KONECRANES PLC'S ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING ON MARCH 25, 2010: PRESIDENT AND CEO PEKKA LUNDMARK COMMENTS ON THE MARKET SITUATION: SERVICE DEMAND SHOWING EARLY SIGNS OF RECOVERY, EQUIPMENT DEMAND HAS REMAINED
KONECRANES PLC STOCK EXCHANGE RELEASE March 25, 2010 at 11 a.m.
KONECRANES PLC'S ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING ON MARCH 25, 2010: PRESIDENT AND CEO PEKKA LUNDMARK COMMENTS ON THE MARKET SITUATION: SERVICE DEMAND SHOWING EARLY SIGNS OF RECOVERY, EQUIPMENT DEMAND HAS REMAINED LOW The Annual General Meeting of Konecranes Plc is held today on Thursday March 25, 2010 starting at 11 am Finnish time in Hyvinkää, Finland. In his presentation, Pekka Lundmark, President and CEO, comments on the market situation and earnings seasonality in 2010: "Demand for Konecranes' products and services has developed as expected in the beginning of 2010. Orders received for Service have shown early signs of a gradual increase owing to the pick-up in capacity utilization within customer industries. Equipment order intake has remained at a low level. Due to the timing of deliveries, the financial result could fluctuate a lot between individual quarters. For example, the Finnish port strike and tough weather conditions during the winter have moved certain deliveries from the first to the second quarter. However, our view on the full-year 2010 performance is unchanged.” The statement on the future prospects issued on February 4, 2010 is reiterated: Despite a slight pick-up in industrial output in the second half of 2009, Konecranes expects the uncertainty to continue, with no credible signs of market recovery visible. The demand for maintenance services is expected to remain stable or to increase gradually should capacity utilization within customer industries continue to improve. The demand for new equipment is expected to remain generally on a low level, and to suffer from overcapacity at customers. Price competition is likely to remain. A high degree of fluctuation between quarters may continue due to the timing of orders. The year 2010 began with a thinner order book than the previous year. Our forecast is that sales in 2010 will be lower than in 2009. We expect the operating profit in 2010 to be lower than in 2009 before restructuring costs. The presentation material will also be available on the company website at www.konecranes.com after the closing of the AGM. KONECRANES PLC Miikka Kinnunen Director, Investor Relations FURTHER INFORMATION Analysts and Investors: Miikka Kinnunen, Director, Investor Relations, Konecranes Plc, tel. +358 20 427 2050 Press: Mikael Wegmüller, Vice President, Marketing and Communications, Konecranes Plc, tel. +358 20 427 2008 Konecranes is a world-leading group of Lifting Businesses™, serving a broad range of customers, including manufacturing and process industries, shipyards, ports and terminals. Konecranes provides productivity-enhancing lifting solutions as well as services for lifting equipment and machine tools of all makes. In 2009, Group sales totalled EUR 1,671 million. The Group has 9,800 employees, in 545 locations in 43 countries. Konecranes is listed on NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd (symbol: KCR1V). DISTRIBUTION NASDAQ OMX Helsinki Ltd Major media www.konecranes.com